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Mandy Moore Learned These Life and Parenting Lessons from THIS IS US

Mandy Moore Learned These Life and Parenting Lessons from THIS IS US

By Movieguide® Contributor

A WALK TO REMEMBER actress Mandy Moore recently reflected on her motherhood journey and what makes the THIS IS US series so special while on THE VIEW.

“I think you can’t discount the time that the show sort of came about at the end of 2016,” Moore said about why THIS IS US resonates with audiences. “I think that that definitely had a lot to do with it in a time when [things were]…so divisive and there was something really like unifying about the show. The connection to family, like, everybody can agree upon.”

“I feel like the show itself sort of was like an instruction manual on how to live, how to be human, and there was something for everyone to kind of buy into,” she continued. “…Every topic was on the table, and [the show was] very layered.”

Moore recently launched a podcast called “That Was Us” with her co-stars Sterling K. Brown and Chris Sullivan.

Moore announced the podcast on social media on April 12:

We are SO excited to finally announce that we (big) three are taking back Tuesdays and bringing #ThisIsUs back by way of a rewatch podcast called #ThatWasUs, starting May 14th! 

The Pearson’s story may have ended after six seasons, but our stories continue on. For six seasons and 106 episodes, Tuesdays brought us together with tissues in one hand and pantry wine in the other. Why? Because we see ourselves in the fabric of their lives. We may or may not have cried at least once every episode, but let’s just say our tears served as emotional catharsis…

Sibling rivalry, body issues, marriage, divorce, adoption, love, blending families, terminal illness, death, miscarriage, racism, and substance abuse are right here in our backyard, just as they were for the Pearsons. So what we’d like to do is really dig in and dig deep. We’ll break down each episode, bring on some very special guests, have the tough conversations and maybe do some collective healing along the way??❤️ ❤️ ❤️ 

On the show, Moore’s character had four children, one of whom died in childbirth. When Moore filmed the show, she didn’t have any kids. Now, she’s a mom to two boys and is pregnant with a baby girl.

“We’re talking like, you know, eight years ago, and so things feel vastly different. I mean Sterling had two children,” she said about her co-star. “He was a father already, but Chris and I both weren’t parents yet, and so to have played a mother and sort of watching the show back episode by episode now, I’m like, wow. There’s some things I would have done a little bit differently having the life experience now under my belt.”

“It makes you question things in a different way, but also I watch the episodes, and there’s certain things that my character does or Milo [Ventimiglia’s] character does that I’m like, wow…I’m going to bank that for when I find myself in that particular situation with my children,” she said. “Like, that’s such an incredible way of handling something.”

Moore had a concerning start to parenthood when a doctor gave her some discouraging news.

“I was told that I had like cartilage on top of my uterus and I’d have to have some special surgery before I could ever get pregnant, and then low and behold, that ended up not being the case,” Moore said, “but it was like a year of kind of going back and forth and trying to figure out exactly what was happening with my body. But yeah, everyone’s fertility journey is so vastly different, and I’m glad that, like, there’s just more of a dialogue and helping sort of destigmatize the conversation around it.”

The actress is thrilled to be a mom to three.

“We’re so excited for our little girl. It’s exciting. We’re going to have three under four!” she said.

When she made her pregnancy announcement on social media, she made a reference to THIS IS US, saying, “Sometimes life imitates art. The third in our own Big Three coming soon. Can’t wait for these boys to have a baby sister. ???”

Part of Movieguide®’s review of THIS IS US Season 1 reads:

NBC-TV’s drama series THIS IS US focuses on one family with three children. MOVIEGUIDE® reviewed the program’s first season. THIS IS US introduces viewers to a young couple, Jack and Rebecca Pearson. Pregnant with triplets, Rebecca and delivers two healthy children, but they lose the third child. On the same day, a black baby boy is abandoned at a fire station and brought to the hospital. Jack and Rebecca adopt him, and their family of five is launched. The program flashes back and forth between the triplets’ childhood with Jack and Rebecca and their adult lives 30 years later as the children struggle with various personal issues.

The beauty of THIS IS US is that every episode is cathartic and real in its depiction of life. The show doesn’t sugarcoat reality or diminish the challenges of an interracial, adoptive family experience. Through all their challenges, the Pearson family falls back time and time again on love for and loyalty to one another. THIS IS US is pro-family, but contains some foul language, innuendo, and other issues that aren’t appropriate for children.


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